Velvet and pile fabric and method of making same



atente aeeatee Henry a. menu, New rare, N. r, aasiior a Celanese Corporation of erica, a eoeration of Delaware No Drag. application Cctober lit, fwd, iieriall No. t lldflim ll l en.

This invention relates to textile fabrics having a pile or a nap and the method of making same wherein the pile or nap of the fabric extends in one direction relative to the backing and is free from crush effects.

An object of the invention is the economic and expeditious fabrication of an improved pile textile fabric having a soft handle and free from crush eflects. Another object of the invention is the treatment of a pile fabric such that extreme care is not necessary in tentering and finishing processes to prevent crushing of the pile. Other objects of the invention will appear from the following description of the invention.

Velvet and other textiles having a pile or nap may be processed according to this invention such that when finished they have a soft handle and are free from crush effects, i. e. the pile or nap extends from the fabric backing in different directions forming irregular patterns. Such textile fabrics may also be processed so that no bunching or mottled effects due to matting or flattening of the pile or nap occurs.

A further advantage of this invention is that once the pile of a pile fabric has been treated in accordance therewith the material may be tentered, cut, wound into packages, etc. in a fairly rough manner without danger of forming permanent crush marks on the pile. Thus, the fabrics having a pile may more easily be handled without injury or developing undesirbale markings. Velvets treated according to this invention may be used as upholstery and wearing apparel without developing crush effects.

Velvets, plush, artificial fur and other pile or napped textile fabrics are formed in which all or part of the filaments forming the pile or nap and/ or backing are formed of organic derivatives of cellulose. With the filaments formed of an organic derivative of cellulose there may be employed other filaments, such as silk and/or cotton, etc.

When yarns of silk and yarns of an organic derivative of cellulose are used to form the textile fabric having a pile and it is desirable to obtain a soft fabric, the fabric is formed from sill: containing its natural coating of gum and then completely degummed after fabrication. To degum the silk the fabric is treated in a bath containing a proteolytic enzyme, such as papain, alone or with a small amount of acetic acid, soap or an alkali hydroxide or carbonate. In this manner, the silk gum is made less insoluble by the enzyme so that it is comparatively easily removed with a dilute aqueous soap bath at a temperature around 85 C.

An alternative method of degumming the silk portion of the textile fabric is to wash the fabric in a soap-water solution at 95 C. for a period of from 1 to 3 hours depending upon the silk treated and the strength of the soap solution.

Velvets, plush, artificial fur and other pile or napped textile fabrics are dyed, after formation and degumming, in heated baths containing a dye which is sometimes mixed with soap or added to a soap-water bath. Such fabrics are also treated in heated aqueous baths some of which may contain soap and "other processing ingredients or aids such as are employed in washing, stretching, etc. These baths may be of any desired temperature, but preferably one of the baths just prior to or during the finishing treatments should be at a temperature of 80 C. or above.

In the above treatment of the textile fabrics, the material is handled in spread condition, or as ropes on reels, star wheels or etoiles or by suspending the material from one edge by fastening same to a string. I have found that treatments such as degumming, dyeing, rinsing, washing and stretching, in which baths maintained at elevated temperatures are employed, produced a crush eflect on velvets and other pile or napped fabrics.

According to my invention, then, I overcome the tendency of velvets and other pile or napped fabrics to take on a crush effect in such processing by totally immersing the fabric in the various baths during such operations and processing, and then by slowly cooling the fabric from the temperature of at least one of the baths to a temperature below 40 0., especially in the last processing step where a heated bath of about 80 C. or above is employed.

Accordingly, the star wheels, reels and etoiles are so placed in the dye, rinse and washing baths that they and their charge of textile material are completely submerged in the baths. The textile material totally submerged may be rolled, wadded or worked as formerly when only parts of the reels and etoiles were submerged.

The slow cooling of the textile material may be accomplished by slowly lowering the temperature of the bath containing the textile by refrigerating means such as cooling coils, etc. The baths may also be cooled by adding thereto cold water in small amounts while agitating the bath. It is preferable to maintain the fabric completely submerged in liquid until cooled to below 40 C. and more preferably to 35 C.

By totally submerging the textile while it is being worked in a bath, there is produced a finished product which is much improved in that the amount of crush effect in the pile is substantially nil and the finished product will not take on a crush effect.

By gradually cooling the velvet after a treatment in a heated bath, there is produced a finished product having a soft pile or nap which may be brushed with or without the presence of steam to form a velvet, plush or other pile or napped fabric.

The fabric to be treated according to this invention may be formed with a backing formed of yarns or filaments of silk, cotton, wool, regenerated cellulose or an organic derivative of cellulose or mixtures of these. The pile or nap on the fabric may be of any of the above materials or mixtures of same. This invention, however, is especially of importance in connection with fabrics comprising organic derivatives of cellu- .lose, and particularly with such as have a silk backing and a cellulose acetate pile. The organic derivatives of cellulose of which the filaments may be formed are such derivatives as the organic esters of cellulose and the ethers of cellulose. Examples of organic esters of cellulose are cellulose acetate, cellulose formate, cellulose propionate and cellulose butyrate, while examples of organic ethers of cellulose are ethyl cellulose, methyl cellulose and benzyl cellulose.

The pile on the fabric may be of any length and density such as velvet, plush, mohair, .artificial fur, terry, panne or paon velvet and other similar pile lengths and may be cut or in loops.

The pile may be made of either extra warp, weft,

or filling yarns and may be on one or both sides of the fabric. 7

The fabric may be formed of a warp knit back, the pile of which is formed by cutting and/or raising by brushing floats knitted with the backing threads. Or the fabric may have a nap produced by raising fibers or filament ends to the surface.

The yarns or filaments of an organic derivative of cellulose that may be employed to form the fabric may be continuous filaments or yarns formed by twisting several continuous filaments together, also yarns formed of bundles of or a plurality of short lengths of filaments twisted together. The filaments may be formed by extruding same through suitable orifices from a solution of the organic derivative of cellulose by either the wet or dry methods of spinning or they may be drawn or otherwise formed from such a solution. The filaments may contain efiect materials either incorporated therein or as a coating thereon such as pigments, filling materials, dyes or lakes and fugitive tints; fire retardants such as beta chlornaphthalene, triphenyl phosphate or tricresyl phosphate, plasticizers, sizes such as wax, gelatin and starches, and lubricants such as olive oil, etc.

After treatment of a fabric according to this invention, the pile or nap thereon may, be brushed, tentered, combed, cut or given other such treatments commonly employed in finishing textile materials. Thus, the soft pile may be raised or laid fiat by brushing and/or steaming, giving a textile fabric free from crush effects.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is merely given by way of illustration and many alterations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Process of manufacturing a pile or napped textile fabric comprising filaments of an organic derivative of cellulose, which comprises treating the textile fabric while immersed in a heated finishing bath and thereafter gradually cooling said textile fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to a temperature below 40 C. in a liquid medium.

2. Process of manufacturing a pile or napped textile fabric comprising filaments of cellulose acetate, which comprises treating the textile fabric while immersed in a heated finishing bath and thereafter gradually cooling said textile fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to a temperature below 40C. in a liquid medium.

3. Process of manufacturing a pile textile. fabric comprising a backing of silk and a pile of an organic derivative of cellulose filaments, which comprises degumming the silk by immersion in a heated bath and thereafter gradually cooling said textile fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to a temperature below 40 C. in a liquid medium.

4. Process of manufacturing a textile fabric having a pile consisting of a backing comprising silk and a pile comprising cellulose acetate filaments,'which comprises degumming the silk by immersing the textile fabric in a heated bath and thereafter gradually cooling said textile fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to a temperature below 40 C. in a liquid medium.

5. Process of manufacturing a textile fabric having a pile consisting of a backing comprising silk and a pile comprising an organic derivative of cellulose, which comprises degumming the silk by immersing the textile fabric in a heated bath containing soap and thereafter gradually'cooling said textile fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to 'a temperature below 40 C. while still immersed in the same bath.

6. Process of manufacturing a textile fabric having a pile consisting of a backing comprising silk and a pile comprising cellulose acetate, which comprises degumming the silk by immersing the textile fabric in a heated bath containing soap and thereafter gradually cooling said textile fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to a temperature of 35 C. while still immersed in the same bath.

7. Process of manufacturing a textile fabric having a pile consisting of a backing comprising silk and a pile comprising an organic derivative of cellulose, which comprises degumming the silk by immersing the textile fabric in a heated bath containing enzymes and thereafter gradually cooling said textile fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to a temperature below 40 C. while still immersed in the same bath.

8. Process of manufacturing a textile fabric having a pile consisting of a backing comprising silk and a pile comprising filaments of cellulose acetate, which comprises degumming the silk by immersing the textile fabric in a heated bath containing enzymes and thereafter gradually cooling said textile fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to a temperature of 35 C. while still immersed in the same bath.

9. Process of manufacturing a textile fabric having a pile, the pile of said fabric comprising filaments of an organic derivative of cellulose, which comprises dyeing the fabric by immersing same in a heated dye bath and. thereafter gradually cooling said fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to a temperature below 40 C. while still immersed in the same bath.

10. Processof manufacturing a textile fabric having 'a pile, the pile comprising filaments of cellulose acetate, which-comprises dyeing by immersing the fabric in aheated dye bath and thereafter gradually cooling said fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to atemperature below 40 C. while still immersed in the same bath. 1

11. Process of manufacturing a textile fabric having a pile, said pile comprising filaments of an organic derivative of cellulose, which comprises washing the fabric while immersed in a heated aqueous bath and thereafter gradually cooling said fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to a temperature below 40 C. while still immersed inthe same bath.

12. Process of manufacturing a-textile fabric having a pile, said pile comprising filaments er cellulose acetate, which comprises washing the fabric, while immersed in a heated aqueous bath and thereafter gradually cooling said fabric from a temperature-of at least 80 C. to a temperature I below 40 C. while still immersed in the same ments of an organic derivative of cellulose, which comprises treating said fabric in a heated bath and thereafter gradually cooling said fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to a temperature below 40 C. while in the bath.

14. Process of producing an improved textile fabric having a pile, said pile comprising filaments of cellulose acetate, which comprises treating said fabric in a heated bath and thereafter gradually cooling said fabric from a temperature of at least 80 C. to a temperature of 35 C. while in the bath.

HENRY R. BODELL. 

